During a scientific talk at the 2016 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress, Gerhard Hindricks, Leipzig Heart Center, Germany, presented results of a meta-study; the TRUECOIN study, pooling 2,405 patients from the TRUST, ECOST and IN-TIME trials. Biotronik Home Monitoring was associated with a 38% reduced risk for all-cause mortality after one year in all implantable cardioverter defibrillator patients.
These results were observed in comparison with conventional office follow-up alone and also found a 36% reduction in the combined risk of all-cause mortality or hospitalisation for worsening heart failure.
The IN-TIME study had already shown a more than 50% risk reduction for all-cause mortality in heart failure patients specifically. The meta-analysis now extends the mortality benefit to the full range of implantable cardioverter defibrillator patients. “It must be pointed out that the clinical benefits have only been demonstrated for Biotronik Home Monitoring. Other studies examining remote monitoring systems could not show this effect,” says lead investigator, Gerhard Hindricks.
The pooled study also suggests a link between using the system specifically and the demonstrated clinical benefits. “The results suggest Biotronik Home Monitoring is effective in helping to reduce mortality in patients with a wide variety of implantable cardioverter defibrillator indications, and to slow the progression of heart failure,” comments Hindricks. “We observed these benefits by analysing studies that only used Home Monitoring, rather than combining data from patients followed using systems that have differing operational features. Hence, analysing individual remote monitoring systems may be preferable to global analyses.”
